Episode 937: Live as Wise

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 937 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Laura Warfel: I'm Laura waterfall. I challenge you to invest in yourself, invest in others, develop your influence and impact the world by using your time, your talent and your treasures to live out your calling, having the ability to realize there's always more that God calls us to.

[00:00:26] And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast with my friend Scott Mader,

[00:00:34] Scott Maderer: because the truth is usually blessings are not coming in large packages where they fall down from heaven into your room. Blessings are coming in those quiet moments between things, those quiet moments of just being

[00:00:53] welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship. If you truly [00:01:00] desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:20] And today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in yourself. I talk with you about a Fijian chapter five verses 15 through 20. I share why living as the wise doesn't mean living like everyone else. And I also talk about why gratitude is tied to wisdom. Ephesians chapter five, verses 15 through 20.

[00:01:42] He goes like this. Be careful then how you live. Not as unwise people, but as well. Making the most of the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, [00:02:00] but be filled with the spirit as you sing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts giving thanks to God, the father at all times, and for everything and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[00:02:17] Yeah, I think there's a lot of passages in the Bible that talk about wisdom and about being wise and how important it is to be one guys. And usually they do tie that in to time like it does in this passage making the most of the time because the days are evil, but they also tie it in to other things.

[00:02:39] In this case, they tie it into being filled with the spirit singing songs, being joyful. And being thankful to God, the father at all times know being wise, isn't about living like everyone else being wise, isn't about doing what the common person [00:03:00] does or what the world says is important. Being wise doesn't mean looking to success in those daily things and those everyday occurrences that have.

[00:03:11] Being wise doesn't mean wasting time and spending time. In this case, they talk about being drunk as a waste of time, but it does mean in other ways too. It means finding what it is that the, that God wants for your life. And then living that out, actually doing it. In other words, I think this passage in large part is about finding your calling and then executing.

[00:03:37] And then what's more, it ties that to the idea of worshipful gratitude, this idea of living out your days and in every moment at all times in things big and things, small finding the moments of gratitude, finding the blessings that are poured out upon you and being [00:04:00] thankful for those. Now, I don't know about you, but a lot of times.

[00:04:04] I have a hard time seeing things to be grateful for. I have days where it just feels like everything is going wrong. Everything is not working right. And there's nothing in my life. That is a blessing, nothing in my life that I want to be thankful for. Everything feels like a struggle. And yet what partly this passage is saying, be thankful at all times.

[00:04:32] When things are going well, be thankful when things are not going well, be thankful. And yet that's really hard to do, but that's part of what this passage is saying is wise. It's spending the time and energy to find gratitude in all things, not just the obvious things, not just the things that everyone in the world, everyone around you would look at and say, oh, there you go.

[00:04:58] You're so blessed. [00:05:00] You've got a big house. You got a big car. You've got lots of money instead. It's about finding thankfulness sometimes in the smallest of moments, the breasts between those moments, it's about being in the moment and paying attention and recognizing that moment is a gift. Even when things are going wrong, even when things aren't working out the way that you want them to, there's still something in that moment that you can find that you can be grateful for.

[00:05:37] And I'm not talking about those weird gratitude moments where you'll just look at it and go I'm grateful that it's not worse. I'm talking about real gratitude where you really find those things that you are blessed. Because usually what happens are a lot of times what happens is we're given those blessings, but we just don't really pay [00:06:00] attention to them because because we're blessed by them, but they're so common they're so in our face they're so that moment that's right there for us, that we just ignore.

[00:06:16] We, we just are blind to it because it's something that we take for granted. It's something that we look at and say this is just what it is. Of course that happened because the truth is usually blessings are not coming in large packages where they fall down from heaven into your lap. Blessings are coming in those quiet moments between.

[00:06:43] Things those quiet moments of just being, whether it's out of relationship with someone else, whether it's out of a moment of calmness, whether it's out of a sincere thankfulness for the fact that you've been given and blessed with another day to live [00:07:00] out your calling, when you found those moments, that's when it's easier to do what you're called to do.

[00:07:07] That's when it's easier to live as a wise person. And to me, that's what this passage is talking about. It's why it's so important. It's why I talk so much about stewardship. It's why I talk so much about finding what you're really called to do, because it's out of those moments that wisdom comes and it's out of those moments that gratitude comes, and those are the moments that allow us to live and be what God has called us to.

[00:07:40] Thanks for listening.

[00:07:42] thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast. As a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your call. If you [00:08:00] enjoy this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time, invest your time.

[00:08:28] Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world. .